Wild Card: You and What Army? is an Independent/Yes Man faction quest in Fallout: New Vegas.
Quick walkthrough[]
| Main Quest: Wild Card: You and What Army? | |||||||||||||
| Gain access to the weather monitoring station. | |||||||||||||
| Destroy the vault's generators. | Use the platinum chip to upgrade the vault's securitrons. | ||||||||||||
| Reward: 500 XP | Reward: 750 XP | ||||||||||||
| Leads to: Wild Card: Side Bets, Wild Card: Change in Management, The House Always Wins II, Render Unto Caesar | |||||||||||||
Detailed walkthrough[]
This quest plays out closely to how one completes The House Always Wins II or part of Render Unto Caesar, requiring entering the Securitron vault beneath the weather monitoring station atop Fortification Hill, presently under heavy occupation by Caesar's Legion.
Reaching the Fort involves traveling to Cottonwood Cove in the southeast corner of the Mojave, east of Camp Searchlight and boarding the raft at the dock. If one has not gained a negative reputation with the Legion after receiving the Mark of Caesar, the Legion forces both at the Cove and the Fort will not be hostile. If one possesses the platinum chip already, it will be confiscated by the Legionary main gate guard along with one's weapons and stimpaks upon arrival at the Fort and one will be required to progress Render Unto Caesar up to Caesar returning the chip along with the order to destroy the vault's contents. From there, go down to the station, recover the equipment from the weather station guard, and use the platinum chip to open the door to the Securitron vault.
If The House Has Gone Bust! was already failed by also completing Wild Card: Change in Management, the projector screen where Mr. House normally appears will be unresponsive. The vault is inhabited by multiple Protectrons and automated turrets. There is also a room just after the first right turn containing four sentry bots that will either open once one destroys the vault or by repairing the junction box next to the door controls (requires 60 Repair).
As with the two quests above, the decision to activate the Securitron army or destroy the vault has separate objectives; the latter requires going to three generator rooms and destroying the machine in the back of them, while the former requires going to a control room at the far end of the vault and using a console in the room along with the platinum chip to power on the vault's systems and upgrade the robot army to Mark II in preparation for the Second Battle of Hoover Dam.
Once the matter of the vault has been dealt with, return to Yes Man in the Lucky 38 (or outside the Tops if he has not yet been uploaded into the Lucky 38's network per Wild Card: Change in Management) and receive his congratulations for bringing the army online (or his restrained condemnation of blowing up the army needed to secure New Vegas. He) wil remind the player character of any outstanding tribes to visit during Wild Card: Side Bets and/or the need to take out Mr. House and install him in the Lucky 38.
Quest stages[]
Notes[]
- The interior of the Securitron vault will cause a constant 1 rads/second. Radiation protection such as a radiation suit or plentiful supply of Rad-X is advisable.
- As with progressing Render Unto Caesar, destroying the vault will fail The House Always Wins and permanently lock out the House ending (completing Wild Card: Change in Management beforehand will make this redundant).
- The dialogue to hand over one's weapons to exit the monitoring station will only take place once and will not be repeated while still inside. This means that any weapons or aid can be stored in a container within the weather station before triggering the dialogue, then grabbed before exiting the building, with no consequences.
- One can also circumvent this by assassinating the door guards on the inside without initiating the dialogue, so long as they are not detected, which will allow the player to carry their weapons back to Caesar's tent.
- If one wants to work with the NCR but has worked with Yes Man for too long, i.e. by progressing Wild Card: Side Bets with a few minor factions, Don't Tread on the Bear! will automatically begin. At this point, if one completes one more quest for Mr. House or Yes Man, that quest will fail and permanently lock out the NCR ending.
Behind the scenes[]
The phrase 'You and what army?' is typically used by someone as a show of defiance to a given threat, as if to say it will take an army to stop/defeat them.
Bugs[]
If one passes the Speech check to hold onto aid items with the main gate guard, one's weapons will not be confiscated either. This leads to becoming trapped in the weather station, with the guard saying it's okay to leave but not actually unlocking the door. Excluding console commands, the only way to get out is to sneak attack the door guard and take his key; a good position for the sneak attack is the stairway leading to the vault, as the Praetorian guards can't see the player character no matter their Sneak skill. This was patched in version 1.4 of the game. [patched]- A bug may occur where one is unable to engage in conversation with Caesar and/or Vulpes Inculta. The screen will zoom in on him, then instantly zoom out. [verified]
Gallery[]
